G2O: Viola Davis Shines in A Dud Action Thriller (Early Review)

Prime Video’s latest action thriller, G20, is just on the horizon, putting Viola Davis front and center as the President of the United States in the titular setting. When the G20 is overtaken by terrorists, led by the evil Rutledge (Antony Starr), President Danielle Sutton (Davis) must call upon her statecraft and military experience to defend her fellow leaders and family against the terrorists looking to collapse the current world order. In today’s climate, streaming releases can be a mixed bag but, in this case, it delivers above average fare that more than serves its purpose. For those looking to kill some time, the 100+ minute film will do it, even if it may not be the most memorable in the long run and certainly indebted to several other action films.

In spite of its issues, the film is never boring and pulls out plenty of entertainment over most of its runtime, as it clips by at a decent pace. Not overly special in the action department, it is fun to watch across a range of moments, from hand-to-hand combat, to shootouts. Marking director Patricia Riggen’s first foray into action filmmaking, it is all the more impressive as she does a fine enough job behind the camera to the point that she has a future in the genre, should she choose to pursue it again.

Now it should come as a surprise to no one that the best thing about G20 is undoubtedly Davis. Delivering another great performance as Sutton, she absolutely crushes yet another action role. Kicking some serious butt throughout, the film offers her the chance to show a different side of her that audiences may not be accustomed to while still holding on to what we have always loved about her. Meanwhile, Starr makes for a solid villain as Rutledge as he keeps a menacing presence from the opening scene all the way to the end. Rounding out the supporting cast are Anderson and Ramón Rodriguez, whose strong performances and strong chemistry with Davis are among the highlights of the film.

While not a bad film whatsoever, it is a derivative one with elements that have more or less been seen by audiences countless times before in countless better ways, resulting in a rather forgettable experience. Essentially another version of Die Hard or Air Force One (or even Cleaner from just this past February), it is only half as good or exciting as either. Outside of Davis’ Sutton, the  characters aren’t very well written or developed, making it difficult for anyone watching to care about any of them or whatever is happening from scene to scene and in turn, making the central family dynamic that the film is counting on not hit nearly as hard as the film clearly wanted it too.

Using the G20 summit as a setting should have given the film a bit of a different flavour or added another dimension to the stakes, however, but the film fails to do much with that setting. Despite the film’s politically-charged setting, it does not have a ton to say in terms of political commentary, but the messaging it does offer falls completely flat while not being nearly as smart as it thinks it is. Also, incredibly obvious moments of green screen during the action sequences become increasingly rougher-looking and more detracting while the bigger it gets, the worse the CGI becomes. However, when it comes to this film, those moments are few and far between compared to most big budget streaming titles.

At the end of the day, G20 is a perfectly watchable action thriller that will likely be a big performer for Prime Video upon its impending release but is ultimately nothing to write home about or anything audiences have not seen before. While far from bad, it amounts to the very definition of middle of the road entertainment.

still courtesy of Prime Video

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/